Slow starts have cost them on the ice recently, and Sunday was no different.

The Minnesota Magicians scored three goals in the first 13 minutes then held off a Janesville team that came to life late, winning the NAHL battle 3-2 at the Janesville Ice Arena.

The Jets, who lost two of three games in the weekend series, fell to 6-9-1 and are last in the North Division. Minnesota is 8-5-2.

“Our starts of our games have been like this lately, where we’re giving up those goals early on,” Jets head coach Joe Dibble said. “Right from the get-go, we’re behind the eight-ball.”

It took the Magicians less than three minutes to take the lead.

Sandis Zolmanis passed to Travis Koepke with a pass in the slot and the open Koepke buried his shot at 2:40 of the first.

Less than eight minutes into the game, the Jets lost one of their leading scorers when Robin Hoglund was whistled for boarding, a five-minute penalty that carried along with it a game-misconduct that sent him to the locker room.

Minnesota responded by scoring twice during its five-minute power play to go up 3-0.

“They scored early like that and it deflated us,” Dibble said. “The guys were flat the rest of that period. I came in, and the biggest thing I stressed to them was, ‘Guys, you’re a better hockey team than this.’”

The Jets did show that the rest of the way—outshooting the Magicians 25-15 in the final two periods—but the damage was already done.

Drew Callin got Janesville on the scoreboard midway through the second period, and Michael Louria scored on the power play less than a minute into the third, but Minnesota goalie Atte Talvanen stood strong late and finished with 29 saves to secure the win.

“You have to continue to work hard, and the harder you work, you’ll start to get those bounces,” Dibble said. “It showed we can battle back without our top guys in the lineup, so some good things come out of it. But there were a lot of teaching moments in the first period, that’s for sure.”

The Jets and Magicians won’t wait long to see each other again. Janesville travels to Richfield for a pair of games next weekend.